Morning Read: Washington Stays in Focus Thursday

By Brendan Conway

Market check:Futures on the blue-chip Dow point higher as the index enters Thursday with three straight losses. Washington’s likely to remain a key focus for investors. Weekly jobless claims are due at 8:30 a.m., with economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires looking for 365,000 claims. At 10 a.m., data new home sales for November are due — they’re expected to show a rise of 1.9%. The Conference Board’s December consumer confidence index is expected to fall slightly versus November, to 70.0.

Fund watch: Blackstone Group (BX) is taking SeaWorld public, with a filing this morning detailing SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.’s plans for an initial public offering of up to $100 million in common stock. As Dow Jones Newswires’ Kevin Kingsbury notes, theme parks have become one of the private-equity-and-hedge-fund firm’s specialties. Blackstone led a $2.7 billion buyout of Anheuser-Busch’s amusement-park business, which also includes Busch Gardens, following A-B’s takeover by InBev (BUD). Then Blackstone sold a 50% stake in Universal Studios Orlando for a billion dollars a little over a year ago. SeaWorld will own 11 US theme parks, including 1 bought just last month, notes Kingsbury — the firm was profitable last year and “has seen earnings surge in 2012,” he writes.

In case you missed it: The idea of taking a shot at Herbalife’s (HLF) battered stock after the arrival of hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman is drawing more interest. Read Steve Russolillo at WSJ Market Beat blog for more.

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Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.